JPS5875965A - Color printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make the titled device small-sized, and to eliminate the need for maintenance, and to improve reliability, by converting picture information on a material to be read into a picture signal of every different color, and driving a thermal line dot head which utilizes a heat resistor according to picture signals differing in color. CONSTITUTION:An original inserted into an original insertion opening 3 is conveyed as shown by an arrow (a) by a feed roller 4 and is scanned in contact by a sitrict contact sensor scanner part 5. This scanner part 5 emits light in different color on every scan by conveying the original forward and backward several times, thus obtaining a picture signal of complementary color of the emitted light from reflected light from the original. The picture signal of complementary color is supplied as print data to a thermal head 16 to perform transfer of every color to transfer paper 17.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a color printing device using a thermal transfer printing method.

Conventionally, as a color printing device, electronic copying type color P
There are PCs, but they are large and expensive, the cost of printed matter is high, maintenance is difficult, and there are no highly reliable ones. Therefore, it has become possible to print color on plain paper using the maintenance-free, low-cost thermal printing that has become popular recently, and also to print in color on plain paper, which was a disadvantage of thermal printing. There is a demand for a color printing device using this method.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to provide a color printing device that is compact, requires no maintenance, has improved reliability, and can reduce costs.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

Although FIG. 1 schematically shows the internal mechanism, a document mounting table 2 is fixed to the upper surface of the main body 1.

The document placed on the document table 2 and with one end inserted into the document insertion slot 3 is transported by the feed roller 4 in the direction of arrow a, and is transferred to the contact sensor scanner section 5. It is configured to be closely scanned.

The contact sensor scanner section 5 repeatedly transports the document back and forth a plurality of times to emit light in a different color each time it scans, and obtains an image signal for the complementary color of the emitted color using light reflected from the document. be. The document corresponding to the contact sensor scanner section 5 is discharged from a document discharge port 6. A detector 7 for detecting the leading and trailing edges of the original is provided near the document insertion port 3, and a detector 8 for detecting the leading and trailing edges of the document is also provided near the document ejection port 6. It is provided. The detectors 7 and 8 are well-known detectors composed of, for example, a light emitting element and a light receiving element. The feed roller 24 is rotated by a pulse motor 9 provided in the main body 1, and is rotated in the directions of arrows c and d by forward and reverse driving of the pulse motor 9.

It should be noted that due to the rotation of this feed roller 24, the document is moved in the direction of arrow a+b
They are designed to return in the same direction.

- 10,000 sheets of paper P are stored in the paper feed cassette 10, taken out one by one by the take-out row 211, and conveyed to the winding tray 13 by the guide path 12. This take-up sheet ram 13 rotates in the direction of the arrow shown in the figure, and the sheet P is first brought into close contact with the adhesion tension roller 14, and then the leading edge of the sheet P is gripped by the take-up sheet roller 13 with the grip 151 and conveyed to the transfer section. It is something to do. Also, grip 15! The trailing end of the sheet P, whose leading end is gripped by the winding sheet ram 13, is gripped by the grip 152 and the winding sheet ram 13. The grip 151.15□ is projected and retracted from the surface of the take-up sheet 13 by a mechanism not shown, and is divided into several parts by a presser (not shown) to hold one end of the paper P. I'm holding it down. Incidentally, the circumference of the winding sheet ram 13 is longer than the length of the sheet P. The ink on the transfer paper 17 is transferred to the paper P conveyed to the transfer section by the action of the thermal head 160. Then, take up Citram 1 until you transfer another ink.
3 to perform transfer in the same manner.

Thereafter, the paper P on the winding drum 13 is separated by the action of the separation claw 18 and is ejected to a paper ejection tray 19. The separation claw 18 is the glyph f151.
．． It is provided so as to correspond to the gap between the 152 pressed melons. The thermal head 16 is separated from the take-up citram 13 by the action of a solenoid 32.

A detector 20 for detecting the conveyance of the paper P is provided near the guide path 12, and the detector 20 is composed of, for example, a light emitting element and a light receiving element. Glyph f above
1sl and I52 are solenoid 211r212 respectively
The separating claw 18 is configured to be driven by a solenoid 22. The winding citrus 13 is rotated by a nozzle motor 23, and
A timing disk 24 is attached to the rotating shaft of this pulse motor 23.
is provided. In the vicinity of the winding citram 13,
A detector 25 consisting of a light emitting element and a light receiving element is provided for detecting the rotational position of the winding sheet ram 13 by detecting the slit in the timing disk 24. As shown in FIG. 2, the transfer paper 17 is a capacitor paper of several μm, for example, with black and magenta printed on one side.

The ink layers made of wax dye, resin, etc. are repeatedly provided in the order of yellow and cyan, each corresponding to the size of the paper P. Then, the transfer paper 17 wound on the reel 26 is transferred to a roller 27. Feed roller 28.
It is guided to a take-up reel 30 via a tension roller 29, and is wound up by the take-up reel 30. A detector 3 is provided near the roller 27 for detecting whether the color of the transfer paper 17 is black, for example, according to the amount of light transmitted through the transfer paper 17, and this detector 31 is equipped with a light emitting element. It is composed of a light receiving element. Moreover, the above-mentioned take-out row 211 is NoJ? The feed roller 28 and the take-up reel 30 are rotated by a noggle motor 34.

3 and 4 show the contact (line) sensor scanner section 5, in which several sensors are placed on a ceramic substrate 41.
A line head sensor section 42 of 1,728 dots and a driver control section 43 are provided, and an external input/output lead wire 44 is connected thereto. In the line tod sensor section 42, the scanning direction is changed when the document moves forward or double, and the light from the LED array 45 is irradiated onto the document through the preservation glass 46. , the reflected light is guided to a SELFOC lens 47 via a protective glass 46, and after the reflected light is focused by this lens 47, it is guided to 1728 light receiving elements 48 for one line. The light receiving element section 48 converts the light into an electrical signal. The LED array 45 includes red light emitting LEDs 49,..., green light emitting LEDs.
50. . . , 5 blue light-emitting LEDs, . . . are provided in sufficient numbers to illuminate one line, respectively. It should be noted that the protective glass 46 has a convex contact surface with the original and has both ends lowered to facilitate the paper path.

FIG. 5 shows the main part of the drive circuit for the LED array section 45. By switching the switches 61, 62, and 63 in response to a control signal from a control section (not shown), the power supply voltage is applied to each light emitting LED 49.゜..., 50. ..., 51
．． It is designed to supply... Each of the above light emitting LEs
D 49,...,50. ....

51, ... has a resistor 6 for light intensity balance for each color.
4. ...is connected. In addition, each light emitting LED and a resistor 64. ...All light emitting L is commonly used in different series circuits.
A limiting resistor 65 is connected when the ED is turned on.

FIGS. 6 to 8 show the thermal head 16, in which a heat generating portion 7 in which several tens of heat generating resistors 72/W are arranged in a line shape for 1728 dots on a ceramic substrate 71.
3 is provided, and the heating resistor 72 is configured to be driven by a drive control section 75 in response to a signal from a lead section 74. As shown in FIG. 7, the heat generating section 73 includes a glaze layer 76 provided on a ceramic substrate 71, and a heat generating resistor 72 on the glaze layer 76. electrode 77
, 77 , and a protective film 78 are sequentially laminated. For example, in the transfer process of the thermal head 16, as shown in FIGS.
By overlapping the ink surface of the transfer paper 17 with the paper P and heating it with the heating resistor 72 on the side opposite to the ink surface of the transfer paper 17,
Only the heated ink surface is separated and transferred onto the paper P.

FIG. 10 shows the electrical circuit of the thermal head 16. That is, the shift register 91 is a 1728-bit register to which serial print data and clock pulses are supplied from a control circuit (not shown). ) 911 *912... For example, print data is supplied to the data input terminal of the D-FF circuit 911, and other D-FF circuits
The set output of the previous stage D-FF circuit is supplied to the data input terminal of the circuit 912..., and the D-FF circuit 911.91
A clock pulse is supplied to each clock pulse input terminal of 2.... The output of the shift register 91 is the set output of the pD-FF circuit 911, .

A reset signal from the control circuit is supplied to the set input terminal of the latch circuit 92, and the reset input terminal of the latch circuit 92 is supplied to the clock iJ? A latch signal from the control circuit is supplied to the pulse input terminal. The latch circuit 92 latches the contents of the shift register 91, for example, 1728 FF circuits 9111z922.
It is composed of e... The latch circuit 92
The set outputs of the outputs of the i-fi FF circuits 921, . A latch signal is supplied to the input end from the control circuit. The above latch times %93 is necessary to latch the contents of the latch circuit 92, for example, 1728 OFF circuits 931, 9.92
．． It is composed of... The above latch circuit 93
The outputs of the pFF circuits 931, . . . are supplied to the first input terminals of the AND circuits "1+942+", and the second input terminals of these AND circuits 941, . The set outputs of the circuits 921, .
・The outputs of each driver 95 have an inverter function.
1. It is offered to...

These drivers 951, . . . are each logical °'
When a 1'' signal is supplied, the heating resistor 72... is made to generate heat.

FIG. 11 schematically shows the control circuit for the pulse motors 9, 23, 33, ?? Pulse motor driver 81゜82.83, which rotates 4 respectively.
90. The solenoid 211.

Solenoid driver 84x r842 +85+86° reading signal from contact sensor scanner unit 5, detectors 7, 8, 2
0,. CPU B& controls the entire system according to signals from 91 and from the operation section 87.

and a ROM (read only memory) 89 in which processing programs are stored.

Next, in such a configuration, FIGS. 12(a) to (n
) and the timing charts shown in FIGS. 13(a) to 13(f), the copying operation will be explained. For example, assume that the reader inserts one end of the original into the original insertion slot 3, places it on the original mounting table 2, and turns on the copy switch in the operation section 8.7. Then, the CPU 8B rotates the feed roller 4 in the d direction by driving the pulse motor 9 in the forward direction, and rotates the take-out roller 11 by driving the pulse motor 33.

As a result, the original document is taken into the contact sensor scanner section 5 by the rotation of the feed roller 4, and one sheet of paper P in the paper feed cassette 10 is taken out by the take-out roller 11. Then, when the leading edge of the document faces the reading position of the contact sensor scanner unit 5, the CPU B 8 stops the pulse motor 9 to stop the rotation of the feed roller 4. Also, the paper P taken out by the take-out row 241 is transferred to the guide path 12.
When the CPU is guided to the detector 20 by
Reference numeral 88 rotates the take-up citram 13 by driving the pulse motor 23.

Then, the paper P is transferred in close contact with the winding drum 13 by the winding drum 13 and the tension roller 14 for close contact. Further, after a predetermined period of time has elapsed since the leading edge of the sheet P is detected by the detector 20, the CPU gs stops the drive motor 33, and thereby stops driving the take-out row 211.

Then, the paper P closely transferred to the winding sheet ram 13 is C
The PU88 drives the solenoid driver 841 to operate the grip 15. By activating , the tip of the grip 15. is attached to the winding drum 13. Further, when the copying switch is turned on, the CPU 8 B rotates the feed plow 229 and the take-up reel 30 by driving the i9 pulse motor 34, thereby moving the transfer paper 17. During this movement, the detector 31 detects the black portion, and when the conveyance time from when the tip of the black portion is detected to when it is conveyed to the transfer section has elapsed, the CPU 8B stops the nozzle motor 34. As a result, the transfer paper 17 is stopped. Next, when the conveyance time for the leading edge of the paper P to be conveyed from the detector 20 to the transfer unit has elapsed, the CPU B
8 drives the pulse motor 9 in the forward direction and also drives the master pulse motor 34. Then, as the feeding roller 24 rotates again, the document is photoelectrically converted by the contact sensor scanner section 5 in order from the leading edge of the document and is supplied to the CPLI 8B. That is, all light emitting LEDs 49,...,5
0..., 51. By lighting up . . . , an image signal for black, which is a complementary color of white, is output. As a result, CPJB drives the thermal head 16 according to the image signal (print data) for black color output from the contact sensor scanner section 5. At this time, the pulse motor 34 is driven The forward feed roller 28 and the take-up reel 30 rotate, and the transfer paper 17 also moves.

That is, serial print data from the CPU ss is supplied to the shift register 91. As a result, the shift shifter 91 sequentially shifts the supplied print data in accordance with the clock pulse.

A latch signal from the CPU 8B is supplied to the latch circuit 92 every time 1728 bits (for one line) of print data is supplied. Then, the latch circuit 92
latches the contents of shift register 91. As a result, the current printed content and the previous printed content in the latch circuit 93 are combined into the AND circuit group 94. , 942 . . . , only the AND circuit 941 , . . . that resulted in printing this time is established, and the driver circuits 951 , . As a result, the drive circuits 951, . . . respond to the outputs of the AND circuits 941, . Printing is performed using...

Thereafter, the silatch circuit 93 is reset by the reset signal from the CPU 8B, and the reset output opens the darts of the AND circuits 941, 942, . . . . As a result, the drive circuit 951 responds to the output of the latch circuit 92.
, . . . are driven to generate heat generating resistor 72 . ... generates a fever. The black portion of the transfer paper 17 corresponding to this heat generation is transferred onto the paper P, resulting in dot printing. Then, a latch signal from the CPU 88 is supplied to the latch circuit 93. Then, the latch circuit 93 latches the latched contents of the latch circuit 92. Thereafter, every time a launch signal is supplied from the CPU 88 to the latch circuit 92, the heating resistor 72 is connected to the heating resistor 72 with a print width corresponding to the current print content and the previous print content, which are latched by the latch circuit 92 in the same manner as described above.
．． ... is generated, and printing is performed according to the image signal for black. In this way, when the heating resistor 72 that was printed last time is also driven for a white image, by shortening the heating time, the heating temperature is prevented from becoming abnormally high. Note that during the transfer, when the trailing edge of the paper P attached to the winding drum 13 corresponds to the grip 152, the CPU 88 drives the solenoid driver 842 to operate the grip 152, so that the trailing edge is attached to the winding citrus 13 with a grip 152.

Therefore, by driving the thermal head 16, a dot pattern corresponding to the image signal for black of the original is transferred onto the paper P using the black portion of the transfer paper 17. Then, after a predetermined period of time has passed since the trailing edge of the document passes the detector 7, that is, just before the trailing edge of the document passes the contact sensor scanner section 5, the CPU 8& drives the Noyals motor 9 in the opposite direction. Then, rotate the feed roller 4 in direction C.

As a result, the original is conveyed in the direction b. At this time, C
The PU 88 rotates the take-up drum '13 in the opposite direction by driving the nine-speed motor 23 in the opposite direction. Furthermore, at this time, the CPU 8 B stops the pulse motor driver 90 and also stops the solenoid driver 86.
By driving the PL/E system motor 34, the solenoid 32 is energized. As a result, the transfer paper 17 does not move, the transfer paper 17 separates from the winding drum 13, and the thermal head 16 is completely stopped.

Then, after a predetermined period of time has elapsed since the leading edge of the document passes the detector 8, the CP[38B reverses the pulse motors 9 and 23 immediately before the leading edge of the folded document passes the folding sensor scanner section 5. The roller 4 is rotated in the d direction, and the take-up sheet 13 is rotated in the forward direction. At this time, the CPU B 8 deenergizes the solenoid 32 to remove the thermal head 16 and the transfer paper 17.
And the winding citram 13 is in close contact. Therefore, the original is photoelectrically converted by the contact sensor scanner unit 5 again starting from the leading edge of the original and supplied to the CPU 8B. That is, by lighting up the green light emitting LEDs 49, . . . , an image signal for magenta, which is a complementary color of p1 green, is output. As a result, the CPU 88 is activated by the contact sensor scanner section 5.
The thermal head 16 is driven in accordance with the output image signal for magenta from the output terminal P. Which one is the feed roller 28 and take-up driven by the motor 34? I.J.
- When the wheel 30 rotates, the transfer paper 17 also moves. Therefore, similar to the printing using the blurred portions of the transfer paper 17, the magenta portion is used to print image information corresponding to magenta in dots superimposed on the black dots printed on the paper P.

Thereafter, as the document and the take-up drum 13 reciprocate, the main pulse motor 9.23 (D when driven in the forward direction, the evening color LED 50, . . . or the red LED 5J, When the .
Black dot printing above.

This is done on top of magenta dot printing.

Then, when each dot printing is completed and the leading edge of the paper P wound onto the winding sheet ram 13 corresponds to the separation claw 18, the CPU B deenergizes the solenoid 211 by stopping the solenoid driver 841. te, grip f
Release the attachment of paper P by J51. Also, at this time, by driving the solenoid driver 85, the thinlenoid 22 is energized to bring the separating claw 18 into close contact with the winding drum 13. As a result, the paper P attached to the take-up drum 9 is separated from the take-up sheet 13 by the separating claw 18 and discharged onto the paper discharge tray 19.
Before the trailing edge of the sheet P wound up corresponds to the separation claw 18, the CPo 8 B deenergizes the solenoid 212 by stopping the solenoid driver 842, and the grip f152 stops the sheet P. The garment is being removed. Also,
When the trailing edge of the document is detected by the detector 8, the CPU 88 stops the pulse Tanabata 9, and the document which has undergone color copying is thereby discharged from the document discharge port 6.

As described above, the sensor scanner unit 5 repeatedly reads and fails the document in different colors, and prints the paper onto the paper using ink on the transfer paper of the color corresponding to the image signal of the complementary color obtained each time. I decided to print dots on the top, so
It can be done with a cheap and simple mechanism and does not require complicated control.
This can improve reliability and eliminate maintenance.

Further, by reciprocating the document and reciprocating the take-up sheet shim in synchronization with the reciprocating movement of the document, the overall copying time can be shortened.

Further, by attaching the leading and trailing ends of the sheet on the take-up sheet to the grips, the sheet can be transported reliably.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, a case was described in which printing is performed using four colors of ink on the transfer paper, but the invention is not limited to this, and three or two colors can be used as necessary. Also,
The color order of the ink on the transfer paper is not particularly limited.

As detailed above, according to the present invention, an object to be read is moved back and forth by a moving mechanism, image information on the object to be read is converted into image signals for each different color, and image signals for each of these colors are converted. By driving a thermal line head using a thermal resistor in response to an image signal, the thermal transfer body is made to correspond to the thermal transfer body, resulting in miniaturization, maintenance-free operation, and improved axis stability. A color printing device that can reduce costs can be provided.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing the internal mechanism, FIG. 2 is a view showing the ink layer of the transfer paper, and FIG. 3 is an external perspective view of the m-arrival sensor scanner section. , Fig. 4 is a sectional view showing the line tod sensor section, and Fig. 5 is a sectional view showing the light emitting L.
A diagram showing the drive circuit of the ED, from Fig. 6 (t) - A plan view of the thermal head, Fig. 7 is a sectional view of the thermal head, Fig. 8 is a sectional view showing the heat generating part of the thermal head, and Figs. 9 (a) - (
c) is a diagram showing the transfer process, FIG. 10 is an electric circuit diagram of the thermal head, FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing the overall schematic configuration, FIGS. 12(,) to (n), and FIG. 13(,). ~(
f) is a timing chart for explaining the operation. 4... Feed roller, 5... Close contact sensor scanner section,
7...Detector, 8...Detector, 9...Pulse motor, P...Paper (transfer material), 13...Take-up 9 drum, 151.152...Gree, g, 17...Transfer paper (
thermal transfer body), 20...detector, 211. 212...
・Sovnoi'1.23...A'rus motor, 25・
...Detector, 31...Detector, 33...No.9 motor, 34...A? Luss motor, 45... LED array, 491-... light emitting LED, 50. ~... Light emitting LED, 51. ~... Light emitting LED, 7. It...
・Heating resistor, 841, 84□. 85.86...soleno/f todoraitsuma, 87...
Operation unit, 88...CPU, 8!9...ROM. Applicant's representative Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue Figure 9 Figure 10 JP-A-58-75965 (9) Figure 11 8 CPIJ F? OM MomichikansukifTself and 80)Response 9 g Rhinoguou-Ichita

Claims (1)

[Claims] A moving mechanism for reciprocating an object to be read, a means for converting an image signal on the object to an image signal of a different color when the moving mechanism moves the object to be read, and an image signal obtained by this means. a thermal transfer body on which ink of a color corresponding to an image signal is arranged in a band shape; a movement mechanism that reciprocates the transferred object;
A color printing apparatus comprising means for driving a thermal line head using a thermal resistor in accordance with the image signal for each color.